Denver Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving this year, Dallen and I met up with Sarah and her family and Jordan in Green River and headed home to Denver. Jessica and her family made the trip and so we were only missing Travis and Emily. It was a quick trip in comparison to our summer visit, but it was still nice to be home. We left Tuesday afternoon and stopped in Aspen to stay with Aunt Janet and Dustin for the night. It was a nice dinner and breakfast visit. Janet finally got to meet Dallen and Caleb for the first time. Dallen was so cute with Janet! We had Lily with us though so it was quite the fiasco sneaking her into the Hyatt and then in and out a couple times to tinkle. Sarah, Jordan and I stayed up way late catching up and chatting which is always so nice.

At home we had our traditional pie making day-10 pies this year. The older kids saw a PG-13 movie together, City of Bones-not that great of a movie, but awesome book! Thanksgiving dinner was delicious as usual and we each contributed our part in helping, with the exception of Jessica because she's pregnant with #3!! They're having a boy, due in June! She had really bad morning sickness so being home was such a treat for her to just relax and let Charity take care of the girls. The day after Thanksgiving was my birthday and we kicked off the morning with a Hip Hop Hustle class at Mom's gym. Sarah, Claire, Mom and I went and had fun trying to do this dance class. Claire and Sarah definitely took the cake on the class. When I got back I took Dallen and Joy to the park down the street and had fun watching them play together. Dallen is fearless and climbed to the top of this huge climbing rock and wanted to stand on top! I was freaking out trying to follow him and make sure he didn't fall. Sheesh! Then later, during Dallen's nap I went to the mall alone to do some Christmas shopping. It was amazing going to mall for hours by myself. Great birthday gift, which I would say was from Dad since he stayed home with Dallen. That night we had an adults night dinner at BJ's where I ran into an ex-boyfriend. Wasn't the best experience to have on your birthday, but he's doing well and it turned out to be not as awkward as I thought once I walked up and talked to him. The rest of the trip turned out to be really nice spending some one-on-one time with Jordan and Claire. I always love catching up with everyone and it'll be awhile before I see Jess again so it was nice to spend time with her again too.

Vegas Birthdays

The weekend before our birthdays, Travis had a 4 day weekend. So we headed down to Vegas to celebrate. We had delicious Sushi with friends at Sushi Kaya in China town. We also went out with the fam to Outback and then yummy Nothing Bundt Cake and presents back at home. Unfortunately it rained the entire weekend so we didn't get out and do much outdoors. But Mindy got her and I a spa treatment so we went out to lunch and got our facials and massages. It was such a nice girls afternoon without the kiddos! So even though it was bad weather, it helps slow us down and we get to relax more. So it turned out to be a great weekend. Oh and I even got my new bed too! King size, memory foam. I was a little leary about the memory foam but was thrilled to get a king size bed. Turns out it took me over a month to be ok with the bed and it still isn't my favorite but I'm not complaining and it is really good on my back since memory foam helps align everything.

Old Friends

During one of Travis' hunts Dallen and I went up north to visit old friends. We usually don't have enough time to visit people so this trip was especially for getting together. I spent one girls night with Becca and Jocie. We just went out to dinner and talked for 3-4 hours. It was wonderful! It's amazing talking with old friends; you just feel like you can say anything and completely be yourself. They are like family. Another night I went to David Hurtado's house to visit his family. We served our missions together and became good friends there. I hadn't seen him since our mission and he made his way from Venezuela to Utah a few years ago. I've been meaning to get together with him for a long time so this visit was long over due. His wife made us traditional Venezuelan arepas and they told me their story about getting together and how they ended up in Utah. It was a great visit and Dallen and their little girl got along great. Hopefully I'll be able to do trips like this every year.

Fighter Pilot Halloween

Halloween was so much fun this year! Travis had the day off so we carved a pumpkin and got to trick-or-treat all together. Dallen was a fighter pilot. It took some coaxing to get him into his costume but I think he got the hang of it after seeing a few neighbors came by and after I got dressed up. I decided to throw on some wings and be a Fallen Angel. Anyway, it was a pretty cold evening but we stayed out for about 1.5 hours. We went around our block and up the street and he did great! I was worried he'd want to eat all the candy along the way but he didn't go for any of it until about half way through. He chose a sucker and hung onto that for the rest of the night. Back at home he surveyed his bucket and we let him have quite a few pieces and then I snatched it away and he basically forgot all about it after that night. So convenient. :D Such a fun night! Happy Halloween!

Fun Family Day

We had a family day in Richfield on a long weekend Friday. We went to Jorgensen's ATV, which we always go to, but this time Dallen got to ride the little carrousel and we went bowling. I think it was the first time Travis and I have even gone bowling together. Dallen carried his ball to the lane each time and played all 10 frames. He even beat us! I didn't think he'd last the entire game but he definitely enjoyed it. I didn't know bowling could be so much fun!

After nappie time in the car, we went to the pumpkin patch. It was late in the evening and it was freezing so the only picture I got was us on the hayride. Dallen LOVED the hayride and giggled the entire way, but wasn't a fan of hiking around through the patch. It was still pretty vine-y and so Travis and I found the big ones and headed back. Dallen also got to go on a little tractor train ride which he was fascinated by as well. I love going to the pumpkin patch! So glad he enjoyed some of it too.

Home again Home

My summer trip home this year was one of the best. Dallen is finally at a good age where I can leave him with the family, and where he'll play with others instead of insisting of being my siamese twin. We were there for a full 6 days and had time to do lots of fun activities, lots of down time and time for me to do things I wanted to on my own. Everyone came home to be together as well: Jess, Sarah, Joe, and Jordan. Here are the highlights:

 

Great Grandma Judy's was the first place we went. All of the great-grand kids had a wonderful time playing with trains, coloring, snacking, and finding the kitties. That evening my good friends Kym-me and Trisha came to mom's with their kids. It was great to see them and their kids, but not the best way to catch up. It was a little crazy.

 

One of the fun things we wanted to do with the little kids was to take them swimming. So while the girls were in school, Jess, Sarah and I took the 5 cousins to the Apex indoor swimming pool/playground. They of course loved it and I enjoyed seeing all of them having a great time. We took Sophie and Jacob down the big water slide which was a blast doing something adventurous with the little ones. After nap time we took the kiddos to the park which is always a hit.

Another activity we wanted to do was go to the temple together with the adults and do family names. I had never been to the temple with Joe or Jordan and I don't think I've been much with Sarah either, not to mention mom and dad. So it was a great experience. Sarah, Joe and Jordan did a few baptisms and confirmations. Then we all did initiatories which was the highlight of the experience for me. It had been a very very long time since I'd done initiatories and I thoroughly enjoyed the words spoken there. We all did a session together and got to see the new temple video which was amazing. Then we did a lot of sealings and ended up in the temple from about 2-7:30pm. It was kind of weird kneeling across from Jordan at the alter, but I would rather it be my brother if not Travis. I definitely missed him in the sealing room. The long wonderful temple day was followed up by a nice dinner courtesy of Dad. Just a great experience for all of us. 

Friday was a day for me. I took Dallen with me to run some errands and then left him with the family while I got a pedicure, acupuncture, saw City of Bones-a movie I've really been wanting to see since it's based off of one of my favorite book series, The Mortal Instruments, and then went and played sand volleyball with Sarah, Joe and his friends. It was such a great day; one I hadn't had in a long long time.

Saturday was The family day. The whole family went to a Rockies game in downtown Denver. I don't really remember watching the game at all, but instead was busy feeding Dallen, chasing Dallen, wrestling Dallen and arguing with him. I think I eventually just gave him the ipad to watch because I couldn't take it anymore-ha! It was fun to be there with everyone though.

Being at church together was wonderful too. We got to hear Dad's and Jessica's testimonies and Dad gave me a much needed private blessing as well. I had a good talk with Mom and Jess and it was just a good uplifting day for the soul. That evening was game night and we laughed and laughed playing our favorite family game-Telestrations.

 

It was nice to not have to leave on Sunday or on a Monday. So instead of just hanging around on Monday, we took the kids to the Butterfly Pavilion and to a splash pad afterwards. Dallen enjoyed looking at the tanks of fish and bees and even was curious about that big spider everyone was taking turns holding-yuck! The butterfly area was a super humid and hot greenhouse and because the butterflies wouldn't sit still, it was hard for Dallen to really focus on them. So he just ran around instead. The splash pad was definitely a hit and the kids just didn't want to leave but they were beyond tired. We ended the day with a family BBQ on the back patio. It was seriously the best trip home. Can't wait til next time!